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Russeting compromises appearance and downgrades the market value of many fruitcrops, including of the mango cv. 'Apple'. The objective was to identify the mechanistic basis of 'Apple' mango's high susceptibility to russeting. We focused on fruit growth, cuticle deposition, stress/strain relaxation analysis and the mechanical properties of the cuticle. The non-susceptible mango cv. 'Tommy Atkins' served for comparison. Compared with 'Tommy Atkins', fruit of 'Apple' had a lower mass, a smaller surface area and a lower growth rate. There were little differences between the epidermal and hypodermal cells of 'Apple' and 'Tommy Atkins' including cell size, cell orientation and cell number. Lenticel density decreased during development, being lower in 'Apple' than in 'Tommy Atkins'. The mean lenticel area increased during development but was consistently greater in 'Apple' than in 'Tommy Atkins'. The deposition rate of the cuticular membrane was initially rapid but later slowed till it matched the area expansion rate, thereafter mass per unit area was effectively constant. The cuticle of 'Apple' is thinner than that of 'Tommy Atkins'. Cumulative strain increased sigmoidally with fruit growth. Strains released stepwise on excision and isolation (εexc+iso), and on wax extraction (εextr) were higher in 'Apple' than in 'Tommy Atkins'. Membrane stiffness increased during development being consistently lower in 'Apple' than in 'Tommy Atkins'. Membrane fracture force (Fmax) was low and constant in developing 'Apple' but increased in 'Tommy Atkin'. Membrane strain at fracture (εmax) decreased linearly during development but was lower in 'Apple' than in 'Tommy Atkins'. Frequency of membrane failure associated with lenticels increased during development and was consistently higher in 'Apple' than in 'Tommy Atkins'. The lower rate of cuticular deposition, the higher strain releases on excision, isolation and wax extraction and the weaker cuticle account for the high russet susceptibility of 'Apple' mango., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This research investigated volatile profiles of over-ripe Thai mango purée during thermal processing by solid-phase extraction, volatile quantification by XAD-2-solvent extraction, as well as descriptive sensory analysis. Overripe fruits of three varieties were analyzed for the ripening stage using specific gravity as well as firmness and the physiochemical properties were also reported. We found that aromatic profiles could be used as true representative to describe Thai mango identities of each varieties. A simple and straightforward heat treatment had differing effects on aroma characteristics and those effects were dependent with mango varieties. Indeed, the amount of terpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenoids alternated after heat treatment. All descriptive attributes of heated 'sam-pee' purée were intensified while, heat treatment significantly improved only "mango identity" in 'maha-chanok' and "fermented" odour in 'keaw' purée. With or without heat treatment, the volatile profiles of 'maha-chanok' remained quite stable while heating played a significant role on chemical ingredients of 'keaw' and 'sam-pee'. Our study demonstrated that the manufacturing of the over-ripe mango into the products of high market value, selection of varieties is vitally important based upon their specific aroma characteristics before and after processing., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The ever-increasing vehicle counts have resulted in a significant increase in air pollution impacting human and natural ecosystems including trees, and physical properties. Roadside plantations often act as a first defense line against the vehicular emissions to mitigate the impacts of pollutants. However, they are themselves vulnerable to these pollutants with varying levels of tolerance capacity. This demands a scientific investigation to assess the role of roadside plantation for better management and planning for urban sprawl where selected trees could be grown to mitigate the impacts of harmful pollutants. The present study assesses the impacts of vehicular emissions on the adaptation and mitigation potential of two important roadside tree species i.e. Grevillea robusta and Mangifera indica planted along roadsides in the capital city of Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand is one of the Indian Western Himalayan State and its capital city is situated on the foothills of Himalaya. The adaptation and mitigation potential were evaluated by studying the response of pollutants on the functional traits which drive the physiology of the trees. The CO2 assimilation rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency (WUE), air pollution tolerance index (APTI), copper and proline accumulation, dust removal efficiency (DRE), leaf thickness and cooling created by plantation were studied to evaluate the response of trees exposed to roadside traffics. To compare the influence of pollutants, traits of trees grown in a control site with few or absence of vehicular movement were compared with the roadside trees. The control site represented part of a reserve forest where human interference is controlled and human-induced activities are prohibited. The vehicular frequency was found to modulate tree characteristics. The tree characteristics representing WUE, APTI, proline and copper accumulation, leaf thickness, cooling impact, and DRE were enhanced significantly, while the decreased CO2 assimilation rate was observed near roadside trees compared to the control site. We found both of the species to perform well to be used as one of the potential species for roadside and urban greening. However, there is a need to assess the potential of other species in reference to the present study., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Although being one of the few drought-tolerant plants, mango trees are irrigated to ensure optimum and consistent productivity in China. In order to better understand the effects of soil water content on mango yield and fruit quality at fruit growth stage, irrigation experiments were investigated and the object was to determine the soil water content criteria at which growth and quality of mango would be optimal based on soil water measured by RHD-JS water-saving irrigation system through micro-sprinkling irrigation. Five soil water content treatments (relative to the percentage of field water capacity) for irrigation (T1:79%-82%, T2:75%-78%, T3:71%-74%, T4: 65%-70%, T5:63%-66%) were compared in 2013. Amount of applied irrigation water for different treatments varied from 2.93m3 to 1.08 m3. The results showed that mango fruit production and quality at fruit growth stage were significantly affected under different irrigation water amounts. Variation in soil water content not only had effects on fruit size, but also on fruit yield. The highest fruit yield and irrigation water use efficiency were obtained from the T4 treatment. Irrigation water amount also affected fruit quality parameters like fruit total soluble solids, soluble sugar, starch, titratable acid and vitamin C content. Comprehensive evaluation of the effect of indexs of correlation on irrigation treatment by subordinate function showed that when the soil moisture content were controlled at about 65-70% of the field water moisture capacity, water demand in the growth and development of mango could be ensured, and maximum production efficiency of irrigation and the best quality of fruit could be achieved. In conclusion, treatment T4 was the optimum irrigation schedule for growing mango, thus achieving efficient production of mango in consideration of the compromise among mango yield, fruit quality and water use efficiency.

The carambola fruit fly, Bactrocera carambolae, is a tephritid native to Asia that has invaded South America through small-scale trade of fruits from Indonesia. The economic losses associated with biological invasions of other fruit flies around the world and the polyphagous behaviour of B. carambolae have prompted much concern among government agencies and farmers with the potential spread of this pest. Here, ecological niche models were employed to identify suitable environments available to B. carambolae in a global scale and assess the extent of the fruit acreage that may be at risk of attack in Brazil. Overall, 30 MaxEnt models built with different combinations of environmental predictors and settings were evaluated for predicting the potential distribution of the carambola fruit fly. The best model was selected based on threshold-independent and threshold-dependent metrics. Climatically suitable areas were identified in tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, west and east coast of India and northern Australia. The suitability map of B. carambola was intersected against maps of fruit acreage in Brazil. The acreage under potential risk of attack varied widely among fruit species, which is expected because the production areas are concentrated in different regions of the country. The production of cashew is the one that is at higher risk, with almost 90% of its acreage within the suitable range of B. carambolae, followed by papaya (78%), tangerine (51%), guava (38%), lemon (30%), orange (29%), mango (24%) and avocado (20%). This study provides an important contribution to the knowledge of the ecology of B. carambolae, and the information generated here can be used by government agencies as a decision-making tool to prevent the carambola fruit fly spread across the world., Competing Interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist.